koekbee



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

A. R. KO'ERBER.

Reed-Organ.

Patented July 23,1878.

T 2 Ffibuaw fu a'ozar:

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

-ttnxnxnnn l. KOERBER, or TORQNTO, ONTARIO, ennnim, ASSIGNOR or ONE-HALF Ins mon'r T0 JAMES snnmnxn, or sAnn rme i.

IMPROVEMENT IN REED-ORGANS.

Specification l'onning part of Letters Patent No. 206,250, dated July 23, 1878; application lilcd January 16, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALEXANDERRUDOLPH KOERBER, of the city of Toronto, in the county of York and Province of Ontario, Canada,

music teacher,- have invented a new and useful Improvement in Musical Reed-Instruments, whichimprovement is fully set forth in the following specification and aceompanyin g draw- My invention relates to improvements which increase the'cxpressional power of rced-iustruinent-s; and it consists, first, in. dividing the wind chest into two sections corresponding to the bass and treble notes, and in the connection therewith otseparate and imlependentlyacting bellows; second, in the construction by which the point of division between the bass and treble notcsmay be varied at: the will of the operator to extend the treble-notes beyond the usual point of division into the bass-notes, and inversely to extend the bass-notes into the treble-notes; third, in the arrangement of the swell mechanism, by which the treble and accompaniment notes are controlled independ cntly of the bass-notes fourth, of a wind-inlet valve on the bellows connected to a suitable foot or knee lever on the front of the instrument, and arranged in such manner that the operator can suddenly admit air to either bellows for the purpose of varying the strength ot the bass-notes in contrast with the power of the treble-notes, 0r inversely.

Iii the accompanying drawin gs,'1 igure l'is a plan, Fig. 2 a rear elevation, and Fig. 3 a cross-section, of a reed-instrument in which my improvements are shown as applied, with g the upper portion removed to expose the confrom the reeds into the leading-tubes E (to the treble-bellows) and E, (to the base-bellows.) The admission of air into these passages from the subdivisions of the wind'chest is governed by valves G. These valves are operated from cams H, placed on a sliding block, II, which block is caused to travel to and fro by the movement of a knee-lever, I, on the front of instrument, or by the rollers I and ropeeonnection 1 or in any other suitable manner.

Each subdivision of the wind-chest is provided with two air-inlet holes, one connecting with the treble leading-tube E and the other connecting with the bass-air leading-tube E. The vascs G are arranged to open or close either one of these inlet-holes by the movement of the cams H, as the operator wishes to make the note treble or bass;

lVhcn the valves G are thrown over to close the inletholes to the bass-bellows all the notes connected with the subdivisions of the windchest will be treble, and the treble end of the instrument will thus be extended up into the bass-section, and when the valves are thrown over to close the inlet-holes to the treblebellows all the notes will be bass, and the bass portion of the instrument will then be extended up into the treble. The accompaniment-notes of the instrument thus, to any required and useful extent each way from the'center, can be played as bass or treble notes at pleasure, as. the point of division between the bass and treble is variable.

The central or accompaniment portion H of the reed-chamber, embracing the notes connected to the subdivided section of the windchest, is constructed according to Patent No. 192,583, granted to me and one James Sheridan, July 3, 1877, with a variable swell, which consists of a traveling valve, J, working in connection with the wind-inlet passages to the accompanimentrnotes. Upon this construc tion I have improved by inclosing the valve J and the mouths of the inlet-passages with a chamber, K, which chamber is fitted within a swell-valve, J, operated to open" and close by the movement of. the treble-swell valve. I connect the valve J to the sameoperating mechanism which moves the valves G, and adjust it to travel uniformly and to correspond with the cams-H in relation with the accompaniment-notes. The advantage gained is that the swell can be given to the accompaniment notes when pl" ved as treble notes without placing the swell on the bass-notes and, further, by a rapid movement of the knee-lever, the swell can be placed on individual accomptm'iment-notes, bringing them out clearly to contrast with the bass-notes being played and with the treble-notes previously playedor that will be played without the swell.

Upon the back board of each or either bellows, in addition to the ordinary safety-valve, I place an inlet-valve, L, closed by a spring and connected by a wire or lever to the flont of instrument. This valve enables the operator to suddenly admit air into either bellows and playsoftly or in strains to contrast with thefull swelling tones of the notes sounded by the exhausted bellows.

ly the use of independent bellows for the treble and bass notes great effect can be obtained by blowing stronger with one bellows than with the other, and when the accompaniment-notes connect with the bass wind-chest the treblefnotes will sound out clearly and well defined over the .tone of the bass-notes, because they are fewer in number. The reverse will be the case when the treble-notes are extended into the bass. The valves G may be operated in a manner difl'erent-to that set forth. Therefore I do not limit my'claim to the mechanism'shown and described.

stantially as shown and described.

3. The combination, with the wind-chest 0, having the subdivided central section-valves G and cams H, of the swell-valve J, substantially asv shown and described.

4. The valve J, connected with the cams H and inclosed within a chamber, K, provided with aswell-valve, J and arranged to be operated by the movement of the treble-swell valve, snbstantiall y as and for the purpose specified.

5. The wind-inlet valves L, operated from M the front of the instrument for the purpose of suddenly admitting air to the bellows, all

when arranged to operate substantiallyas and for the purpose specified.

" A. R. KOERBER.

Witnesses'z. w

' GEO. A. A'IRD,

JAMES SHERIDAN. 

